1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention is directed to a tear strip for opening a panel of a box and, more particularly, a tear strip with associated adjacent perforations by which the box panel may be opened relatively easily and quickly. The box, in accordance with the subject invention, is well suited for containing parts for ready-to-assemble furniture.
2. Description of Related Art
Many products are packaged and shipped in corrugated fiberboard boxes and these boxes must have the structural integrity to remain intact during shipping, but furthermore, have a reasonable means for opening when the box with the product has finally arrived at its destination. While for very lightweight products, the box may be relatively light and thin and taken apart with relative ease, heavier products require a larger more robust box. A typical box would be thicker and heavier and typically have overlapping panels that are well secured to one another. One such heavier product would be panels used in the construction of ready-to-assemble furniture. Common industry practice for securing overlapping panels may involve gluing such panels together or to staple such panels together, either alone or in combination with glue. However, opening such a box may be challenging and depending upon the approach utilized, may be dangerous. As an example, a box cutter knife may be utilized, however, awareness of the razor-sharp blade is imperative to avoid injuries and to avoid damaging the product contained therein. Certain pry tools may also be used to pry the glued or stapled flaps from one another, however, care must again be taken to avoid damaging the product contained therein. Finally, no matter what technique is utilized, time and patience is required to open such a box and, in the end, the box may end up totally destroyed such that residual contents of the box, such as packing material, must be placed in a separate container for disposal.
A design and method are needed to permit opening of a box in a simple efficient manner that, furthermore, may be “re-closed” to return the box to a generally closed appearance such that residual contents from unpacking the product may be retained within the generally closed box and the box efficiently disposed.